Sully Says: Penguins Aren't "Putting a Sixty-Minute Effort Together"

The Penguins are now 1-3 on their lengthy roadtrip, dropping Friday's late-night contest against the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1.
Pittsburgh brought a physical game to the home team early. Throughout the course of the period, however, the Penguins got called for three minor penalties. That certainly did not help to rectify what is becoming a rather negative pattern: the Penguins were outshot in the opening period again, this time by a margin of 10-5. Vancouver went into the locker room after the first 20 minutes of play with a 1-0 lead.
Pittsburgh made a statement in terms of shots on goal in the second and third periods (15 in each), but only managed one goal off the stick of Rickard Rakell. This was Rakell's fourth tally of the season, tying him with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the team lead in goals.
While the Penguins controlled nearly all of the play in the opening minutes of the third period, Vancouver would weather the storm and score thrice: one five-on-five goal, one with the man-advantage (Vancouver's second power-play marker of the contest), and one into Pittsburgh's vacated net. Those three Vancouver goals would put the game out of reach for the Penguins, with a final score of 5-1.

The only lineup changes between this game and the previous game in Calgary were P.O Joseph slotting back in alongside Jan Rutta and Surrey, BC-native Tristan Jarry starting in net.
Here's a look at the lines the Penguins' coaching staff employed...
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen-Evgeni Malkin-Jeff Carter
Brock McGinn-Sam Poulin-Kasperi Kapanen
Drake Caggiula-Ryan Poehling-Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph-Jan Rutta
Head coach Mike Sullivan shared his thoughts after the game.
On if there was a lack of intensity during the beginning of the game:
"Yeah. I just don't think we're putting a sixty-minute effort together. It's hard to win in this league when you don't."
On his level of concern about this three-game losing streak:
"Well you're always concerned. You don't want to lose games in this league. It's hard to win in this league. It's important that we continue to try to get better every day, every game. It's our job to figure out how to fix it. That's what we've got to do."
On what his message to the team was after this game:
"It's not good enough."
On relying on the Penguins' veteran leaders to help right the ship:
"We've got an experienced group. These guys have been through ups and downs in this league. They understand what it takes. And so, we need everybody to take ownership for their own game. We've got to put our best effort [forward] tomorrow night in Seattle."
On Crosby playing 23:24 tonight:
"A lot of that is circumstantial. We were chasing the game. So, when you're chasing the game like that, you're leaning on your offensive players a little bit more than you'd like. That was the circumstance tonight. We were trying to get back in the hockey game, and the best way to do that is to put your best players on the ice."